Feed flustered...

[EggSighted4Life]

I give my hens a handful once in a while, they barely eat it.
They only eat it if they need it, so I think a handful every once in a while is good enough.

It depends on what you feed and how many birds you have as well as their age.

I leave OS available free choice in a separate feeder all the time. My girls go through it but my feed has only 1% calcium.

The min/max is probably because it isn't an exact science depending on which ingredients they use. So that would be the range of where it test. I go by the minimum when looking at nutrients.

Also, my feeders and waterer do NOT hang and nor do they have poo in them. There does seem to be less waste if you can mount it or raise it level with their backs. I have a rain gutter that sits in cinder blocks for my feeder. Some individuals have wanted to stand in the center of the feed dish before but that was every since chick hood and an individual trait.

Compared to cereal and such, you should see a drastic improvement in their overall health EVEN using JUST layer. They should be coming into lay fairly soon. Try not to stress too hard. And feel free to feed your egg shells back to your flock as part of their calcium supplement. Some go all crazy cleaning and baking them... I simply set them aside until I'm ready to take them out, making sure they are open enough to dry out and not get moldy. Then I crush them SOME, and put them out in a dish. Or sometimes I just take out the shells and drop them on the ground and step on them for a little crush. Not pulverized because it will go straight through the crop instead of being absorbed.

OK, one more comment on min verse max... The minimum means that it meets that minimum requirement. The maximum would be how much extra is available above the minimum. Some ingredients like DE are approved for use as a binding prevention agent at UP TO 2%, So the max shows you that you don't have to worry about certain ingredients like (salt or potassium) being too much that it creates harm instead of benefit.

Probably a jealous husband or wife that dropped off that pretty flock!

Really, it's not as complicated as it can seem... Use whatever feed you like that is NOT less than 16% protein and have calcium available and water. Get your nest situated and put some fake eggs in to show them where you want them to lay. It may take them a little while to settle in since chickens are creatures of habit. But they should start feeling safe and secure pretty soon. And before you know it your gonna be rolling in the eggs from happy hens!

 

[lazy gardener]

Scratch grains have there place.... I use them to lure the chickens inside the coop when I need them to hurry. Other than that I do not give them any.

Gary

Ditto that!

Oh I understand now. Thanks. The feed that I purchased is 17%... Can I continue to use that or should I donate it and purchase new feed?

If you haven't already noticed, there are as many different opinions on BYC as there are flock owners! You're gonna hear: Birds must have protein higher than the minimal amount in a 16% layer. You're gonna hear: If you give layer to non laying birds, you can cause them to go into kidney failure.

Then, from me, you might hear: 16% is perfectly fine, especially if it's fermented. The fermentation process actually increases B vitamins, as well as the amino acids Methionine, and Lysine, so you get more bang for your buck, as well as less feed waste. For more info. about the how and why of fermented feed, there's an article listed in my signature

I don't stress about the whole Calcium/renal failure/non laying bird issue. My entire flock is on unmedicated starter when I have chicks. When the pullets get their cluck (voice change indicating that they are going into chicken puberty), the next bag of feed I buy will be layer. If a flock is allowed to free range, they are already getting plenty of calcium found in a nice weedy lawn!

Why the minimum and maximum percentages? What number do you look at when deciding on a feed? The min or max?

The minimum/maximum listing is b/c the manufacturer does not do a feed analysis on each lot of feed they produce. By giving a high/low range, they can be assured that from one lot to the next they fall in that ball park. Their formulation will vary a bit, based on what materials are available when they mill their feed.

One of the most important things to be aware of IMO is the mill date. Your feed store manager will tell you that they feed is good for 6 months. Or he will even tell you it's good for up to a year. NOT SO! A well published poultry feed expert quoted in Harvey Ussery's book:
https://www.amazon.com/Small-Scale-Poultry-Flock-All-Natural-Approach/dp/1603582908

states that feed quickly starts to loose nutrients shortly after milling. By 6 weeks, it is on it's way to becoming stale. I will walk out of a store empty handed before buying feed that is older than 3 weeks.

 

[Molpet]

I feed fermented 18% grower feed put it in a hanging on the wall through or a gutter on the ground.....with oyster shells and eggshells on the ground. Something else you will need is grit (I put mine on the ground), which is cheap and lasts a long time.. it is rocks that they use in their gizzard to grind up food.. since they don't have teeth. Mine like sunflower seeds (BOSS) and mealworms as treats/training aids.

 

[Titan Farm]

Why the minimum and maximum percentages? What number do you look at when deciding on a feed? The min or max?

The maximum and minimum is for a number of reasons but mainly and what it comes down to is that a minimum about set ingredient can be just as bad as overdoing them with the same set ingredient.
For the most part you look at the maximum percentage.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I feed fermented 18% grower feed put it in a hanging on the wall through or a gutter on the ground.....with oyster shells and eggshells on the ground. Something else you will need is grit (I put mine on the ground), which is cheap and lasts a long time.. it is rocks that they use in their gizzard to grind up food.. since they don't have teeth. Mine like sunflower seeds (BOSS) and mealworms as treats/training aids.

My birds have never gotten grit in 7 years. They've always had access to the ground. And I recently have added washed river sand in my coop but they don't seem to really care for it.

I agree if they are shut in with no access they will need grit. Beyond that, it feels like a personal choice, like so many other things in chicken keeping. We all have reasons we do what we do. What works for some won't work for others for whatever reason, and that's OK. We are here to learn from each other.

 

[lazy gardener]

My birds have never gotten grit in 7 years. They've always had access to the ground. And I recently have added washed river sand in my coop but they don't seem to really care for it.

I agree if they are shut in with no access they will need grit. Beyond that, it feels like a personal choice, like so many other things in chicken keeping. We all have reasons we do what we do. What works for some won't work for others for whatever reason, and that's OK. We are here to learn from each other.

Agreed, there are so many different management styles. One thing that I'm often guilty of, and I think it's a tendency for all of us: I look at flock management through my own little paradigm. I may dispense advice based on my climate, my view of chickens being more of a live stock animal than a pet, the set up of my yard, mo coop design and space, my weather, even my neighborhood and type of soil. It's so easy to loose track of the fact that others have a different model to work with. My soil is very "bony". So, it's not necessary for me to supply grit. Though... in the winter months, when the ground is frozen solid, when birds are shut in coop/sunroom DL run for months at a time, they DO appreciate, and perhaps even NEED grit at that time. Other folks with different soils, may very well need to supply grit on a regular basis. If soil is a delta type soil, very sandy, or perhaps does not have any insoluble grit, or even if it's a heavy clay base with out insoluble grit, then, IMO, supplemental grit would be necessary.

As for the "they say" folks that say that birds don't need grit if all they eat is processed chicken feed, or baby chicks don't need grit if they are in a brooder and only eating chick starter, my opinion re: that theory is: "HOGWASH". Chickens have no teeth, they were given a gizzard that was designed to collect stones to take the place of teeth. A chicken's natural inclination is to eat grit, and if she doesn't have that available, she's going to be seeking some sort of nugget to put in her gizzard.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Welcome to BYC! I love Reifsnyder's Ag! Your food is fine & some of us feed scratch everyday, just don't give too much. I give about a half cup to 13 hens right now & they are laying like crazy. I use 16% organic feed. How did you build a coop so fast? Enjoy!

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

Welcome to BYC! I love Reifsnyder's Ag! Your food is fine & some of us feed scratch everyday, just don't give too much. I give about a half cup to 13 hens right now & they are laying like crazy. I use 16% organic feed. How did you build a coop so fast? Enjoy!

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

Dusk to dawn Saturday and Sunday...ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at 9:00PM each night. Lol

 

[Ljc01]

Enjoy your birds and just don't overthink things.